The Interscholastic League of Honolulu’s hiring of Blane Gaison as its executive director makes a lot of sense to people in Hawaii high school athletic circles.

Gaison has an extensive background in athletic administration, and those who know and respect his leadership abilities believe that the league got the man they were looking for.

“Blane is a great choice,” former Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya — who worked closely with Gaison for many years — said soon after the Honolulu Star-Advertiser learned of the hire early Monday morning. “And, frankly, I can’t think of a better choice. Blane was involved with the ILH for decades. He has always been highly regarded, first as an athlete at Kamehameha, when I remember him as ‘the man’ in basketball and football, and later as Kamehameha’s football head coach and then as an athletic director. He has the respect not only of people in the ILH, but also of his peers in Hawaii’s four other leagues.”

Gaison, a 1976 Kamehameha graduate, will continue to fulfill his duties as the Kamehameha Schools’ Maui campus athletic director until Jan. 4, when he will begin his new duties with the ILH.

“It was bittersweet accepting the position,” Gaison said in a telephone interview Monday afternoon. “Kamehameha-Maui has been a wonderful place and the most enjoyable thing has been the people here. The ILH is a unique place and a wonderful place, and it has grown and there have been a lot of changes in the three years I was away. There are new ADs and new principals that I will be working with and there is a new Division III program.

“First and foremost, though, I am humbled and honored to be given a chance to be in the ILH position. I am following Clay Benham, my teacher and coach and mentor at Kamehameha, and Coach Don Botelho. They are great leaders. Another big plus is that I will be coming home.” Gaison grew up in Kalihi.

During his 26 years of employment in Hawaii high school athletics, Gaison served as football head coach at Kamehameha’s Kapalama campus on Oahu from 1989 to 1996, when he became an athletic director there. In 2012, he took the Kamehameha-Maui AD job. For a few years in the early 2000s after Benham’s death, Gaison was one of four ILH athletic directors who shared the league’s administrative duties.

Previously, Gaison played quarterback for Kamehameha and went on to play safety for the University of Hawaii from 1976 to ’80 and for the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL from ’81 to ’84.

In his new ILH job, Gaison will succeed Botelho, who left the post in June. Georges Gilbert, the interim executive director since then, will continue in that role until Gaison comes on board in January. Gilbert is expected to remain in the ILH office as an assistant to Gaison, much like he was under Botelho.

Suzy Travis, the ILH president and the principal at Assets School, called the hiring of Gaison “an ideal fit” and said he was offered the position ahead of “multiple highly qualified, excellent candidates” who applied.

“He’s a humble and strong leader,” she said. “He loves kids and he is passionate about athletics. He has had exceptional experience in managing athletic programs and he has a great working knowledge of the ILH.”